Aspiring Assembly members in Nzema East state claim
Mrs Joyce Sackey,
a 59-year-old trader, who is aspiring to be the assembly member for the Ayisakro Electoral Area in Axim, has promised to promote girl-child education if given the nod.
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She noted that the work of an assembly member required someone who was dedicated and competent in what he or she did and believed that she had what it took to meet the task.
Mrs Sackey said she decided to contest the assembly elections to champion the cause of the girl-child, particularly in education, in view of the low enrolment in schools in the area. She said the saying by Dr Kwegir Aggrey many years ago that when you educate a woman you educate a nation still held true today.
She believes that the current state of underdevelopment of the Ayisako community in particular and the Axim Municipality in general was because of low participation of women in decision-making and leadership roles, and was hopeful that with increased education of females in the community the current state of inadequate development could be reversed.
Besides desiring to work to bring about improvement in girl-child education, Mrs Sackey said she was also concerned with some developmental issues the community was facing, including poor sanitation, poverty and unemployment of the youth in the community. She promised to work with opinion leaders, chiefs and interested groups to reverse the trend. She has, therefore, urged the electorate to come out in their numbers next Tuesday and vote for her.
Frank Okpenyen,
a 38-year-old graphic designer, is in the race to become the assembly member for the Tolanu Electoral Area in Axim in the Nzema East Municipality.
He said his campaign was focused primarily on improving the standard of living of the people in the electoral area. He said he acknowledged that even though the work was enormous it was nonetheless surmountable.
If given the mandate, he said he would work in concert with all stakeholders, including unit committee members, chiefs and opinion leaders to undertake programmes and projects that would transform the electoral area in terms of provision of infrastructure and amenities.
Mr Okpenyen said a core component of his campaign was the message to his community members, especially the youth, to get involved in communal activities to help develop the community.
He noted that, since sanitation was a problem in the electoral area, he would mobilise the people to undertake massive clean-up exercises on national sanitation days and other days when necessary as a means of ridding the area of filth which was affecting the health of the people.
He has promised to work closely with interest groups in Tolanu and lobby the assembly for infrastructural amenities. In particular, he said he would explore opportunities to provide street lights for the community and see to it that the stock of basic facilities and equipment for schools in the area were improved.